Mounted, Tancred rode under the walls at the head of his men, calling out to the watching Baldwin. ‘You bested me in this, but one day you will pay for what you did here with your blood.’
‘Boast away, Norman,’ Baldwin replied with a sneer, dropping the de Hauteville banner over the walls, clearly with a stone inside to drive it into the dust. ‘I piss on you.’
Heading north-east Tancred knew that another possible capture lay ahead of him, the town of Adana, not as ancient or as prosperous as
Tarsus but a place that might fall to the same threats issued there; go now while you can or face the whole host of Christendom. Baldwin was left not in control of Tarsus as he had implied – he and his men had taken possession only of the two towers that fronted the main gate – but still in negotiation with Gökham Bey about the final terms of surrender, talks which he was called away from in late evening because a force of around one hundred and fifty lances had been seen approaching from the north, eventually identified as Normans. Their leader, Roger de Liverot, he addressed from the walls and quietly refused them either entry or food.
‘Make camp as did we on arrival and perhaps on the morrow we will grant you the means to ride on in pursuit of Lord Tancred.’
‘Night is near upon us and we have ridden hard to catch him. We are in need of proper rest.’
‘Hard ground never troubled a Norman, though grumbling is a trait.’
That made the Lotharingians on the walls with him laugh out loud, for what had occurred in taking Tarsus had opened up the kind of rivalry that had hitherto been kept under control in the host. The responses from the Normans, blasphemously crude, got like in reaction, the whole episode watched by the remains of the Turkish garrison.
Eventually Roger led his men away to occupy the same riverside ground as had Tancred, his men grumbling and weary from having ridden hard to catch him. Hungry, if not thirsty, they tended to their mounts and began to settle down for the night, Roger eschewing the need for sentinels to keep watch on the grounds that there was no threat nearby about which they need be concerned.
He could not be expected to know the effect on the Turks of
the exchange of insults that had taken place earlier; if they had not understood much of what had been said the sense was obvious: these Crusaders were not as united as they had first appeared, and added to that there was no sign of this fabled host. There was one man who reasoned that he might not, after all, have to surrender his governorship, but wisdom first dictated that he reduce the number of his enemies.
Half of Roger de Liverot’s men, their leader included, died soundlessly, their throats cut by Turks who made not a sound as they approached the snoring Normans. A few awoke to see their fate just before it was visited upon them, the only sound to emerge the gurgling of blood spilling from a sliced open windpipe and main artery. Few, a very few, woke in time to get a weapon into play and fight off their assailants for a while before succumbing to superior numbers, and the very lucky, no more than a dozen in total, fought hard enough to get clear and head at a desperate run for the walls of Tarsus.
There they called to their Lotharingian confrères for succour, all insults forgotten, and had enough time to tell Baldwin’s men what had happened before they were set upon and slain in sight of the ground lit by torchlight, the last men to die naming the person clearly responsible for their fate, none other than Baldwin of Boulogne in concert with Gökham Bey. The horrified Lotharingians were not stupid; they knew who would be next if they did not defend themselves, albeit some of their number were so incensed they set off to slay Baldwin for his crime, so that he was obliged to lock his door against them.
The rest set about seeing to the remains of the Turkish garrison, first closing the postern gate by which the murderous party had exited and hoped to re-enter, no doubt to continue the slaughter, they fleeing in the knowledge of what might exit from the gates any time soon,
mounted warriors who would cut them down to a man. Emerging from the towers they occupied, the Lotharingians rampaged through the city cutting down every Turk they found, and quite a few Armenians mistaken for infidel, until they reached the gubernatorial palace where they found Gökham Bey, pleading through an interpreter that he had had no knowledge of what had occurred and offering gold to spare his life.
It did not serve him at all; two sturdy knights of Lower Lorraine took their swords and, with a series of blows, hacked him into half a dozen pieces, his blood running over an elaborately tiled mosaic floor, of a design that might have once been walked on by Roman feet. Others set about his wives and numerous children until there was none left alive. If many later claimed this was done to avenge their Norman confrères that was a lie; they did it for fear of their own lives.
It took Baldwin, from behind his locked, heavy, wooden door, an age to convince his followers that he had not conspired to commit the crime, and it was an indication of the man he was that they did not initially believe him. Some remained unconvinced even when he was allowed out, but without him they were leaderless in a strange land, and added to that, as a free man, he had the ability to offer them now that which he had intended they should receive once his talks with Gökham Bey were concluded.
Gifts of gold and silver, the right to loot the homes and places of worship of the Turks, a blind eye turned to those who extended that to Christian Armenians to fill their pouches and rape their women, this took any desire away to even chastise their leader. Added to that was the prospect to a senior captain of the position of governor of Tarsus, who could choose his own men to form the garrison, a duty of much comfort and little risk now the Turks were all slain or fled.
For the rest there were other cities ahead to plunder, and even leaving a garrison of an eighth of his strength, they still outnumbered the Normans Baldwin knew were ahead of them. Leaving the citizens of Tarsus to bury the Norman dead and cast the Turks into an open pit, Baldwin set off the next day to chase the man he now saw as the main rival to his ambitions.
I
t was impossible to ignore the discontent that began to surface in the ranks of Tancred’s men; they felt cheated, and not having responsibility to the whole of the mission they also felt free to be angry with him for not either outwitting Baldwin or fighting him for possession of Tarsus. All he could do was to refuse to respond to their misery and talk confidently of what was to come – other rich places and the booty they would provide – with the added assurance that if he had been outwitted once it would not happen again.
The sight, after two days’ riding, of a medium-sized walled town on the horizon raised all their spirits, only dented when, in coming close they saw a strange banner flying from the highest tower, deep blue and bearing heraldic symbols that were unrecognisable to Western eyes.
‘Armenian,’ Anastas said in Greek, aware that the identification did not bring a smile to Tancred’s lips.
Naturally their approach had been spotted and as they came close to the town they saw the gates open. Soon a substantial force of mixed cavalry and foot soldiers exited to draw up on the plain in battle order and under that same blue banner, clearly intent on defending the town. A small party detached themselves and rode forward to a point well ahead of the battle line and stopped, clearly inviting a parley, and Tancred, ordering his men to prepare for a fight, rode to meet them. The leader, tall, handsome and dark-skinned, was out in front, mounted with his standard-bearer at his side and he disarmed Tancred immediately by bowing in greeting and welcoming him to Adana in fluent Greek, giving his name as Oshin and getting that of Tancred in return.
‘As you will see, My Lord, the town is no longer in the hands of the infidel. We Christians have taken it from them.’ There was no choice but to look pleased. ‘But I must add that they were ready to depart for they had heard of the coming of this great host from Europe. If we rose up and drove them out it was with your aid, even if you were not present.’
‘So Adana is now Armenian.’
‘It is,’ Oshin replied, his chest swelling. ‘And soon all of our lands will throw off the yoke of the Seljuks, for we Christians combined will drive them away, back to the East. Now, My Lord Tancred, I invite you and your lances to enter our town as guests, to pray with us in our churches and to eat and drink all that we can provide.’
There was no choice but to accept, and also no alternative to sending back a messenger to tell his knights to take off the chain mail they had just donned, for there would be no fighting – they would be feted as liberators, yet Tancred knew that would not still the moaning. His men had not come all this way for wine and provender, and the
fact that Adana was in Armenian hands, a race he knew the Crusade leaders saw as potential allies, meant the people and the property would have to be respected.
It raised the mood of all a little as, after entering the town, they rode through the streets to the cheers of a multitude of happy citizens, with flowers thrown at them to form a carpet under their hooves. When it came to providing sustenance Oshin was as good as his word, for the food was superb and the wine flowed, which gave some concern to Tancred who knew that, when drunk, some of his men were likely to go wild and start to look for women and booty, regardless of the fact that they were with future allies. He mentioned his worries to the Armenian leader, pointing out that would only increase the longer they stayed.
‘So we must move on at the rise of tomorrow’s sun for the Belen Pass.’
If Oshin was surprised that the cause for so many Crusaders was profit not absolution he hid it well. He was also wise enough, when told of what had occurred at Tarsus, to sense what Tancred was not saying: that his men were hungry for more than he could provide.
‘My Lord Tancred, to get to the Belen you must pass Mamistra.’
‘And pass it is all I will probably be able to do, for you will have seen that I lack the strength to take it if they resist, and if I camp outside to try to winkle out the defence, then the Baldwin I mentioned to you will only come and seek to dislodge me. I doubt I could stop that turning into a fight.’
‘The garrison of Mamistra is weak.’
‘And so am I.’
‘If you were stronger?’ Seeing Tancred’s eyebrows lift Oshin added with a smile, ‘It would aid Adana if Mamistra too was stripped of its Turks. People travel frequently between here and there to trade, for
it is a far richer place than where you now sit. I know the Turks have heard of your arrival in Cilicia and I am informed they are in terror of seeing your banners from their walls. I wonder how they would act if they saw ours at the same time?’
‘You think they might surrender?’
‘If they fear you, they fear we Armenians just as much, for they have been oppressors and the fate of such people is not a mystery when power changes hands. The Turks of Adana did not die easily or swiftly and that will be known to them in Mamistra.’
‘A joint attack?’
Oshin nodded and quickly added, ‘We need nothing for ourselves, for with Tarsus and Mamistra in friendly hands our town of Adana is secure. It would serve both our causes well if a Frankish banner flew over both our nearest neighbours.’
Tancred could not keep the surprise out of his voice. ‘You are offering me and my lances a gift?’
‘One, I must remind you, that is not yet mine to give. But I will accompany you with part of the force that greeted you, enough I hope to terrify the Turks into surrender.’
‘Do not denude your own town, for Baldwin will be hard on my heels.’
‘Never fear, I will leave enough men to check him should he prove greedy.’
‘Then we still must depart at the rising of the sun.’
‘We shall, side by side,’ Oshin replied, ‘but may I suggest that you let your men know we do so as allies, so that before we go they do not misbehave.’
‘Do you trust him?’ Robert of Salerno asked, when he was told of the plan.
‘Yes. He wants security for Adana.’
‘But has he made a pledge?’
‘Robert, I am in no position to demand one, but I do know we cannot stay here. We both know we must ride on, and not just for the sake of the task we have been given. The men are upset after Tarsus and I know they blame me.’
‘A few malcontents.’
‘That is all it takes to break the peace between the Armenians and us. If we rest here for any time those “malcontents”, as you call them, will start eyeing what is available to steal, and once that commences every one of our lances will join in so as not to miss out. I think Oshin knows that too, which is his other reason for offering support. He wants us gone, and if we are going to plunder anywhere, let it be his neighbour.’
‘Baldwin?’
‘If he comes here the gates will stay closed against his men, but he will be allowed to enter himself and treated with courtesy.’
‘Pearls before swine,’ Robert spat.
Tancred grinned. ‘I have a higher opinion of pigs than you.’
Oshin and Tancred rode out in company, leading a combined force that now numbered near five hundred men, all mounted, for the Armenian had left his foot behind to hold Adana. At his insistence they did not hurry, he sure that word of their coming should reach the Turks before they arrived.
‘For their imagination of the fate that awaits them will do more to aid our cause than even your chain armour.’
That night, round the campfire, Tancred and some of his Greek-speaking lances were entertained by Oshin with tales of
what Armenia had once been, a great and ancient nation that had dominated the whole of Asia Minor. He was proud that his race and its then ruler had adopted Christianity as the state religion before the mighty Romans; Armenian bishops had been prominent at the Council of Nicaea and they had held to their faith through invasion and occupation with an iron will that not even the sons of the Prophet could dislodge.
He was also curious, and enquired over two nights, about the lands from which these men he had adopted as allies came from, the ongoing dispute between Greek Orthodoxy and Latin Rome, the places they lived and the customs by which they led their lives. And he probed, if not too strongly, to seek their motives for coming this way, which exposed no more than their complexity; some had genuinely come for the sake of their souls, others in search of a better life or to drive back the infidel, a few with dreams of fabulous wealth which, under careful questioning, they could not disguise.
‘On the morrow,’ he said to Tancred before they retired, ‘it may be that all the dreams you Normans hold can be met.’
Mamistra was three times the size of Adana and judging by the number of churches and mosques very much more prosperous as well, but its walls were in poor repair, worse than those of Tarsus. It sat on the River Pyramus, which Oshin informed them flowed strongly to the sea except in high summer. Thus every trader in Cilicia flocked towards it to exchange the goods they wished to trade for that which could be brought in from around the Mediterranean. In that exchange and the customs dues charged lay its wealth and, given such income, the Turks should have better protected it, and certainly the fortifications should have been better maintained.
‘It is a mystery, Lord Tancred,’ Oshin replied, when the very obvious point was made. ‘Perhaps my fellow Armenians do not threaten, they are too busy trading and profiting to think of freedom. As for the walls, how long is it since the Turks had anything to fear, and the Governor would care more for the weight of his purse than the strength of his defences.’
The customary invitation to open the gates for the sake of their lives was offered and rejected, so the combined force made ready to attack, selecting a part of the walls away from the main gate in such a parlous state that they looked as though a hefty push would knock them down. The dismounted Normans carried ladders forward and if they were met with arrows the effect was hardly as frightening as they had previously experienced – the aim was terrible – and in any case their mail and shields protected them from most of the harm.
With real brio, led by Tancred and Robert, they got onto the battlements and began to fight to control them, which allowed Oshin’s Armenians to approach in relative safety. As Tancred’s men began to expand the area of combat, in execution of the standard tactics of seeking one of the towers, their allies got in the conflict and proved to be worthy supporters. It was a loud blowing horn that caused a slight let-up, with Oshin riding forward, leading Tancred’s mount, to shout to him that there was a truce flag flying above the tallest minaret.
‘Hold your positions, Lord Tancred, but push no more. I think our Turks are ready to seek to save their skins, so I beg you to join me in talking to them.’
Looking around him and the many dead who had already fallen to Norman weapons, not a few of them to his own, Tancred calculated that with a bit more effort they might achieve that rare event, the
taking of a fortified place on the first assault; he was loath to depart from that.
‘Talk to them, Oshin, speak for us all.’
‘That would not be fitting. If Mamistra falls it does so to you. Come and bring with you your banner.’
‘Take over, Robert, and hold the ground we have gained.’
Bloodstained and sweaty Tancred clambered down and mounted his horse, bringing in his own hand the de Hauteville flag. He and Oshin rode to the main gate to find a splendidly clad and swarthy individual on the barbican waiting to parley with them and he was seeking terms. Two notions were uppermost in Tancred’s mind: the way Gökham Bey had betrayed him to Baldwin at Tarsus, and the fact that his and Oshin’s men were still on the walls and in a position to press home the attack.
So pleas for time were denied; the Governor of Mamistra was given one glass of sand to get him and his Turks, military and civilian, out of the town on pain of death for all, including his wives and children. Nor was Tancred, egged on by Oshin, prepared to play the normal Turkish game of extended negotiations. He dismissed out of hand the man’s attempts to bargain and swore he would personally make his death so painful that he would seek to convert to save himself.
‘Take nothing,’ Tancred added. ‘Only what you wear and what you must ride. Your men must leave their weapons also, and if you abide by those terms I swear on the soul of Jesus Christ our Saviour that you will not be harmed.’
For a man that had no choice habit made him seek amelioration, until Oshin spoke up and began to describe what the people of Adana had done to their Turks. Argument ceased then, and for such a dark-skinned fellow it was strange how pale he had gone. Within the
required time the Turks moved out, a long and slow caravan of horses, carts, women, each sat on an ass, children walking beside them, but no possessions of any size. When the last donkey left, Tancred called his men off the walls and with Oshin at his side rode into Mamistra to the cheers of the Armenian population.
The treasury of Mamistra was intact, as were all the furniture and artefacts held by the Governor of a wealthy trading city: chests of coins, gold, silver and bronze, beautifully crafted objects that would yield a fortune on their own. Now Tancred could still those moaning tongues and reward his lances with the kind of booty they had craved since leaving Apulia.
He too would gain much, wealth greater than he had ever possessed, for Oshin refused to take any share. Yet the pleasure in that was topped by the cheering sight of his banner flying over the city, its red background and blue and white chequer telling all who saw it that a de Hauteville was the Lord of Mamistra.
It was only two days before that was spotted by Baldwin of Boulogne, who stopped his men by the river and made camp. After that banner, the first thing he would have espied was much work being done on repairing the walls, tasks at which the Normans, endemic castle builders, were extremely adept. He would have wondered, while they toiled at the masonry, as to the identity of the men who were standing guard, for he would have no idea, even if he had been refused entry to Adana, that the man who commanded there was now here with half his forces. He took his time, but eventually Baldwin was obliged to ride towards the closed gates and ask to speak to Tancred.